A Huge Diamond Ring is Not Always a Sign of a Long-Lasting Marriage

The ads say that the size of a diamond is a good indication of a lasting love and the more you spend on a larger diamond, the better it is. This may not be true. According to professors from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, people who spend enormous sums on diamond engagement rings and/or their wedding are more than likely to wind up divorced later.

Interestingly enough, only 10 percent of engagement rings in the early 1930s contained a diamond. By the end of the century, 80 percent had diamonds. In 2012 alone, there was $7 billion spent on diamond engagement rings.

The Emory University survey talked to 3,000 divorced Americans and discovered that if $2,000 to $4,000 was spent on a ring, the fiancé was 1.3 times more likely to end up divorced than a man who spent $500 to $2,000. On the receiving end of the ring, the women also had higher divorce rates.

Rings aside, it was also discovered that women who spent $20,000 or more on their nuptials were 3.5 times more likely to eventually be divorced than women who spent $5,000 to $10,000. The average cost for a wedding in the U.S. is $30,000 – a figure shared by wedding planning website, TheKnot.com.

Apparently, spending $1,000 or less on a wedding correlated to a decrease in divorce rate, but spending too little on the ring (under $500) usually indicated a higher divorce rate.

The reason for such findings apparently lies in the financial stress factor associated with wedding plans. Couples often find themselves spending more than they have on hand in order to make their wedding day special. The higher the cost of the ring and the wedding the higher the financial stress. The lower the cost of the ring and the wedding, the less financial stress. Why spend more money on a wedding than a couple is comfortable with?

Weddings did not used to cost so much, nor take as long to plan. Today’s expectations typically far exceed what would still pass for a lovely, reasonably priced wedding, but industry and peer pressure have led to a reflexive drive to spend and keep spending into debt. Being behind the eight ball financially, just after becoming newlyweds, is often a cause for marital discord.

What about the honeymoon? The study seems to suggest that the more guests there are at a wedding led to longer marital partnerships, as did having a low-cost honeymoon.